I tried to fool my brother, sort of.
TL;DR
- Doppel, a cybersecurity firm, uses generative AI for deepfake audio simulations.
- Doppel raised $70 million in Series C funding, valuing the startup over $600 million.
- The company's mission is to combat social engineering attacks and malicious deepfake use.
- Doppel's technology helps train businesses against impersonation, fraud, and phishing.
Beside him and his Pekingese on the sofa, with no explanation or preamble, I played a sound recording of myself—a deepfake of my voice created by the cybersecurity firm Doppel at my request. The fabricated voice sounded strained, unnatural, and just convincing enough to make him squint, wrinkle his nose, and inquire: “That’s AI, right?” While my digitally immersed sibling wasn't entirely deceived, he was disturbed.
I requested Doppel to provide a demonstration, as vivid as possible, of what deepfake audio entails, at a time when society is arguably more conscious of them than ever before. The proliferation of generative AI-driven deepfakes has transformed a technology that has long been a cause for concern into something increasingly widespread.
Deepfakes have seen significant advancements lately, according to Kevin Tian, CEO and cofounder of Doppel. Doppel Simulations showcases the current landscape of social engineering attacks for businesses, serving purposes of training and vulnerability assessment.
“Our simulation capabilities are very much like vibe coding,” he told Coins2Day. “You give it a prompt, and that AI agent can then construct a phishing social engineering campaign that hits you specifically on your phone, maybe shoots off an SMS right after that phone call to confirm some things. Of course, you can still do the traditional phishing email…But over the past few months, what’s gotten significantly better is the ability to do real-time, synchronous deepfake conversations in an intelligent manner. I can chat with my own deepfake in real-time. It’s not scripted, it’s dynamic.”
In 2016, Tian and Rahul Madduluri met at Uber. Both eventually left and in 2022, the pair cofounded Doppel, which they started originally to help crypto companies with impersonations. But quickly, they realized the problem was a lot bigger, that “the most dangerous thing about AI is how easy it is to impersonate anyone,” said Tian. The company started to build a platform that solved that existential problem for enterprises and was listed in this year’s Coins2Day Cyber 60 list.
Approximately six months following its Series B funding, Doppel has secured additional investment. The startup has successfully raised $70 million in its Series C round, achieving a valuation exceeding $600 million, as exclusively reported by Coins2Day. Bessemer Venture Partners spearheaded this funding round, joined by new backers such as George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, and NTT Docomo Ventures, in addition to existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz, 9Yards Capital, Script Capital, South Park Commons, Sozo Ventures, and Strategic Cyber Ventures. (The company notes that this Series C funding represents a threefold increase in valuation.)
There are some sports-associated investors also in the mix, including Aurum Partners (linked with San Francisco 49ers ownership and other LPs) and an investor group led by the WNBA’s Nneka Ogwumike, Breanna Stewart, and Kelsey Plum (via the a16z Cultural Leadership Fund). The company said it has seen 400% growth in its enterprise customer base since 2024 and that it serves “dozens” of Coins2Day 500 customers. Rahul Madduluri, Doppel cofounder and CTO, said via email that the round is “fuel for engineering, speed, and expansion.” But there’s a nuance—the precise goal isn’t to stop deepfakes entirely.
“The thought process is that a deepfake is one signal. And there are actually benevolent deepfakes now, with the way enterprises are deploying deepfake technology,” said Tian. “You’ve got people using digital avatars. Like, if I were on a flight right now, I could actually use a deepfake to talk to you and share the Doppel story. So, that’s why our mission is not to stop deepfakes. It’s to stop social engineering attacks, and the malicious use of deepfakes, traditional impersonations, copycatting, fraud, phishing—you name it.”
Doppel, which takes its name from the word doppelgänger, faces numerous rivals, such as Bolster, ZeroFox, KnowBe4, and Netcraft.
“There are a lot of legacy players who serve the space today with whom Doppel competes,” said Elliott Robinson, Bessemer growth equity partner, via email. “The overwhelming majority of these players focus on digital risk protection and security awareness training who protect against email and domain-based attacks. But they are not positioned to address today’s social engineering attack landscape.”
Through his work with clients, Tian has identified a particular segment of businesses that faces heightened vulnerability: customer service departments.
"They can't afford to dismiss a call simply because it seems questionable," stated Tian. “It’s a vulnerable population,” “And it’s not fair, because these people are trained to be helpful. They’re trained to take phone calls, they’re trained to respond to messages, to comply with requests, to be patient. It’s a tough job.”
Tian touches on a crucial point: that some of the most significant cybersecurity threats are still human-related, necessitating human education and instinct. (It might be akin to my brother frowning and concluding the audio wasn't actually me.)
“You can’t hard-code every role out there in the world,” he said. “You can’t get training data on every edge case in the world. So, you have to teach humans and models to reason through what’s going to be bad for your organization, and what’s safe.”
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
X:@agarfinks
Email:[email protected]
Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.
Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.Subscribe here.
Venture Deals
- Lambda, a San Francisco-based superintelligence cloud, raised $1.5 billion in Series E funding. TWGGlobal led the round and was joined by ThomasTull’s US Innovative Technology Fund and existing investors.
- Venna New York City-based operating system designed for multifamily housing has secured $52 million in Series B funding. NOA and CIMGroup led the round and were joined by Group11, OrenZeev, and others.
- Maximaa San Mateo, Calif.-based agentic AI platform focused on automating accounting tasks, secured $41 million in its Seed and Series A funding rounds from RedpointVentures, KleinerPerkins, AudaciousVentures, and others.
- Agentioa creator-led advertising platform based in New York City, powered by AI, has secured $40 million in Series B funding. Forerunner led the round and was joined by Benchmark, CraftVentures, and others.
- GetVocala conversational AI platform based in Paris, France, focused on customer service, secured $26 million in Series A financing. Creandum led the round and was joined by Elaia and Speedinvest.
- VahatiCora developer of medical technology for patients with Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction, based in Santa Clara, Calif., secured $23 million in Series B financing. S3Ventures led the round and was joined by others.
- Sphere, a San Francisco-based cross-border compliance platform, raised $21 million in Series A funding. AndreessenHorowitz ledthe round and was joined by YCombinator and FelicisVentures.
- OpenHandsraised $18.8 million in Series A funding, according to the Boston, Mass.-based open platform for cloud coding agents. Madrona led the round and was joined by MenloVentures, ObviousVentures, FujitsuVentures, and AlumniVentures.
- Quindara Denver, Colo.-based platform focused on monitoring and automating spacecraft operations secured $18 million in Series A funding. WashingtonHarbour led the round and was joined by BoozAllenVentures, FUSE, FCVC, and YCombinator.
- TULUa product access and usage platform headquartered in New York City secured $17 million in a Series A extension funding round. GreenSoilPropTech Ventures, BoschVentures, and NewEraCapitalPartners led the round and were joined by Regeneration.VC, GoodCompany, AvivGrowthVentures, and i3 Partners.
- Datum, a New York City-based open network cloud, raised $13.6 million in seed funding from Amplify Partners, CRV, VervinVentures, and others.
- Jiga, a San Francisco-based AI-powered sourcing platform, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Aleph led the round and was joined by Symbol and YCombinator.
- PicoJoola developer of optical chips and modules based in Palo Alto, Calif., which are intended for high-bandwidth, low-cost connectivity within hyperscale AI data centers, secured $12 million in financing. PlaygroundGlobal led the round.
- Xenia, a Chicago, Ill.-based firm specializing in AI-driven operational software for businesses with multiple sites, secured $12 million in Series A funding from PSG.
- Condukt, a London, U.K.-based compliance platform for financial services, raised $10 million in funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners and MMCVentures led the round and were joined by CocoaVentures.
- HammerheadAIa Redwood City, Calif.-based firm dedicated to enhancing energy efficiency has secured $10 million in seed financing. BuoyantVentures led the round and was joined by SEVentures, AINAClimateAIVentures, MCJCollective, and others.
- Emma London, U.K.-based company that develops a smart menstrual cup and its accompanying app secured $9 million in seed funding. LunarVentures led the round and was joined by the LabcorpVentureFund, TinyVC, BlueLionGlobal, AlumniVentures, and angel investors.
- Voltraca developer based in Valencia, Spain, focusing on unmanned vehicles for autonomous agricultural work, secured €7 million (equivalent to $8.1 million) in seed investment. Extantia led the round and was joined by FoodLabs and others.
- Lumia, a Boston, Mass.-based developer of smart earrings designed to track blood flow to the head, raised $7 million in funding from J2Ventures, BonAngelsVenturePartners, and angel investors.
- Shipdaya delivery and logistics technology platform for small and medium-sized businesses, based in Menlo Park, Calif., secured $7 million in Series A funding. ECPGrowth and Ibex led the round and were joined by BCapital and Supply Chain Ventures.
- Asseta AIa seed funding round of $4.2 million was secured by a New York City-based accounting platform catering to family offices. NycaPartners and MotivePartners led the round.
- AlertDa San Francisco-based agentic AI platform for site reliability engineering and DevOps secured $3 million in pre-seed funding. TrueVentures led the round.
- Poppy, a Charlottesville, Va.-based wedding florist platform, raised $2.7 million in Series A funding. MichiganCapitalNetwork led the round and was joined by VirginiaVenturePartners, WakestreamVentures, IDEA Fund Partners, and FrontPorchVentures.
Private Equity
- Long Ridge Equity Partners led a $45 million investment in GoTuTechnology, a Miami, Fla.-based dental talent marketplace. J.P. Morgan Asset Management also participated in the investment.
- BGF invested £30 million ($39.5 million) in TMTID, a London, U.K.-based mobile data intelligence company.
- Amplix, a portfolio company of GemspringCapital, acquired 24By7Securitya consulting and compliance firm located in Coral Springs, Florida. The financial details were not made public.
- Angeles Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in Technique, a Jackson, Mich.-based metal fabrication solutions company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- ThomaBravo agreed to acquire a majority stake in Azula Sunnyvale, Calif.-based firm created to assist businesses in accelerating their Java workloads. No financial details were revealed.
People
- Team8, a New York City-based venture capital firm, hired GaliaBeer-Gabel as managing partner. Formerly, she was with PayPal.
Exits
GeneralAtlantic has purchased a minority interest in SmartHR, a human resources and labor management software firm located in Tokyo, Japan, from CoralCapital for a sum of $96 million.